I love the way how the Vice President goes through the list so many times to show that 2001 was not indeed the first attack that is attributed to the WOT.
For those who have not read it he went through the list again on Friday.
"""""""""" With grave new dangers directly in view, the strategic situation changed fundamentally. The first thing we had to understand was that on 9/11, America was not merely the victim of a crime. We were a sovereign nation under attack, entitled to defend ourselves, and obligated to confront and defeat this enemy. We had to understand, as well, not just the ambitions of the enemy, but the kind of response they expect from us. Their goal is to frighten us, to break our will through acts of spectacular violence -- to hit us again and again until we run away.
They've chosen this method because they believe it works, and they believe the history of the late 20th century proves their point. During the 1980s and '90s, as terror networks began to wage attacks against Americans, there was a tendency to treat those attacks as isolated incidents. And those acts were answered, if at all, on an ad hoc basis, with subpoenas, criminal indictments, and the occasional cruise missile. As time passed, the terrorists concluded they could hit America with very little consequence, and change American policy with bigger targets and a higher body count. And so their attacks became more ambitious and more deadly.
In Beirut in 1983, terrorists killed 241 of our servicemen. Thereafter, the U.S. withdrew from Beirut. In Mogadishu in 1993, terrorists killed 19 Americans; thereafter, the U.S. withdrew from Somalia. This emboldened them still further, confirming their belief that they could strike America without paying a price and be able to change our policies. Indeed they did strike, and indeed they did not pay the price.
We had the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993; an attack on U.S. facilities in Riyadh in 1995; the attack on Khobar Towers in 1996; the attack on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998; and, of course, the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Ultimately, of course, they attacked the homeland on 9/11 and took the lives of 3,000 people aboard passenger jets, at the World Trade Center, and in the Pentagon.
The terrorists have been at war with the United States for a long time. And after 9/11 this nation made a decision: We are at war with them. This is a long-term commitment, not a passing issue. There will be no running, or relenting, until the problem has been dealt with -- decisively, systematically, and permanently. """"""""""""""""
Full text of speech, Vice President's Remarks to the Central Command, Special Operations Command, and the 6th Air Mobility Wing